By GREGORY ZELLER //
Another excellent Long Island college is stepping up to “university” status.
Following Rockville Centre-based Molloy University and Patchogue-based St. Joseph’s University – which earned their stripes in March and April of 2022, respectively – SUNY Old Westbury will be formally recognized as a university as of July 1.
Announced April 14 during the ceremonial, COVID-delayed inauguration of SUNY Old Westbury President Timothy Sams – who’s led the school since officially succeeding former President Calvin Butts III in 2021 – the college’s promotion comes via the New York State Board of Regents’ new “university” guidelines.
The new guidelines, which updated standards set in 1969, took effect in 2022. Among other things, they remove doctoral programs as a “university” requirement – though they do require graduate studies in at least three of 10 specific discipline areas, including agriculture, biological sciences, health professions, business and education.
With multiple graduate-degree programs in business, education and health sciences, SUNY Old Westbury has duly earned “a recognition that is reflective of our rigorous, high-quality academic offerings at both the undergraduate and graduate levels,” according to Sams.
University row: SUNY Old Westbury will become the eighth university across Nassau and Suffolk counties.
“This new designation rightly represents the type of institution that we are today,” the president said. “Even so, while our legal name changes, our mission remains the same.”
That mission echoes a theme Sams played throughout his inaugural address, which focused on his vision of SUNY Old Westbury as “a premiere predominantly diverse institution.”
That descriptive phrase (for institutions like SUNY Old Westbury, where black, indigenous and people of color represent more than 51 percent of students) was more than just talk – it’s the core of Sams’ plan.
“By ‘premiere,’ we mean that Old Westbury will provide liberal arts excellence by leading within the diversity, equity, inclusion and justice space,” the president said, with STEM, sustainability and social justice all part of a “transformational student experience” custom-built to be “responsive to the dynamic needs of our region, our country and the world.”
One perk of the university promotion: The “State University of New York College at Old Westbury” will become “The State University of New York at Old Westbury,” but will still go by the “SUNY Old Westbury” monicker – meaning it won’t have to reprint a T-shirt or update a logo.
John King: SUNY Old Westbury has anointed the right leader.
However, as the school sails into competitive Long Island waters already occupied by Stony Brook University, Hofstra University, Adelphi University, Long Island University, the aforementioned Molloy and St. Joseph universities and the New York Institute of Technology, a minor rebrand seems likely.
And SUNY Old Westbury will at least need to update its admissions processes, with the “university” tag sure to increase across-the-board enrollment (and revenues).
Fortunately, it has the right leader – with the right set of values – to guide the institution through this important transition, according to SUNY Chancellor John King Jr., who was on hand April 14 to officially invest Sams as SUNY Old Westbury’s sixth president.
“Tim is the kind of educator who is committed to building a community of support … that’s an Old Westbury tradition he represents,” King said. “He is a leader in the tradition that is the best about our democracy, a democracy that is not fully formed.
“Generation after generation have stood up to fight for civil rights, to fight for the right to vote, to fight to expand the circle of democracy, the circle of freedom, the circle of justice,” the chancellor added. “That is a tradition in which I know Tim has already led and … will continue to lead.”
